734 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 21 



ver allowed to pasture; from the 1st of June to 

 the end of Oi-ioher, ihey are led in the honi?e on 

 itireen ti)od, cunpistiiiu of red clover, rj?e-:rrn?s and 

 velches. The calves that are reared are alt:o ied 

 in the pame way in a yard, and in the course oi 

 the pasturing season, convert a ffreat deal of ve- 

 getable matter into excellent manure. There are 

 always, too, at this season, a few [)io;s fed entirely 

 on whey; and by these means much dunir is made 

 even in summer. There is no danger o!" dnuix 

 made by animals in yards overheating in the 

 warmest season; but v/iiiiout considerable precau- 

 tion, stabli' litter will then be very soon consumed 

 away. For the purpo-e of preventing its rapid 

 l(?rmentation, peat niujs was Tor some years used 

 and regularly mixed with it in layers; but earth 

 of any kind, or road -scrapings, will be found to 

 effect the purpose, arid in winter the cleaniniis of 

 the cow-houses answer the end. What is made 

 in spring and summer is taken to the fields as it is 

 needed, and in winter it is taken to the field as of- 

 ten as possible, put up into heaps over which the 

 horses and carts pass, and then well covered over 

 with earth. 



Lime. — To bring the land here to its greatest 

 fertility, lime is essential; and to use it in larixe 

 doses, and at distant inlervals, is tiioughr to be the 

 most advantageous way of" applying it. From 

 one hundred and sixty to two hundred Winches- 

 ter bushels per acre, are considered about the pro- 

 per quantity, though one halfofthat accords with 

 the practice of this district, where it seems often 

 to be applied as if it were a euljstiture for dunir. 

 [n most vegetables a little lime is found; every 

 good soil contains a small proportion of it. This 

 proportion, if wantincf, ought to be supplied ; 

 and it would seem to be more advanta2;eous to 

 supply it at once, than by degrees, and at inter- 

 vals. Hot lime indeed, tends strongly to promote 

 the solubility of inert vegetable matter in the soil; 

 but to produce a given eliect, the smaller the 

 quantity of this matter in the soil, the greater 

 er ought the dose of' lime to be. The quantity of it 

 entering into the plants themselves is so small, 

 that it seems to be chiefly by its affinities for wa- 

 ter and for the other constituents of the soil, (hat it 

 influences vegetation. It has been often observ- 

 ed in fallowing this clayey soil, that in wet weath- 

 er, where a dose of lime has been just given, the 

 land continues more friable, and is less apt to bind 

 up on the recurrence of drought, than the rest of 

 the field of similar qualify. The grain grov^'ing 

 on the well limed ground preserves its healthy ap- 

 pearance in wet seasons, while that growing on 

 land that has not been limed is yellow and sickly. 

 Wherever lime is laid upon pasture, the herbaire 

 assumes a more healthy color; and though coarse 

 before, is immediately eaten closely down by cat- 

 tle. This is the case, though it be appli d in a 

 very moderate dose, and it is so to a much greater 

 degree than would happen were manure in the 

 shape of well rotted dung, applied in far larger 

 quantities than the inert vecjetable matter in the 

 sward can be supposed to afford through the ac- 

 tion of the lime. For top-dressing pasture, the 

 best mode of applying it is in compound with 

 €arlh. Sometimes the fill dose has been laid 

 upon the sward a year previously to being broken 

 up, but it seems preltirable to apply it in its caustic 

 state, while tha ground is under fallow, when it can 

 be most intimately mixed with the soil. The 



lime-stone is imported from Ireland, and burned 

 on the spot in kilns made of turf. VVIien ready 

 10 spread upon the land, its cost, including the 

 cartaire of the s'one, and all other charges, 

 amounts to about eightpence a bushel. 



The securing and manvfacturing of the crops. 



The result of the experience of this farm is de- 

 cidedly, that all gniin, but especially wheat, should 

 be cut without reirard to its color or the greenness 

 of the straw, as soon as milky juice can no lon- 

 .(jer be seen on bruising the pickle wiih the fingers. 

 The extent of the loss sustained by the reaping 

 of v/heat beinij delayed for eiii,ht or ten days be- 

 yond this perioti, is very great. The best of the 

 grain falls ofl in handliiiir; and the sample is not 

 so fiiir as that of grain cut even before the milki- 

 ness is quite absorbed. The wheat when cut, is 

 set up in shocks or stacks of eiiiht or ten sheaves, 

 covered with a couple of hood-sheaves, and if 

 this operation be well performed, it will stand a 

 week's rain without injury. In this precarious 

 climate, oats oi-ght always to be hood-sheaved 

 loo. Peas are not sheaved, but left loose, and fre- 

 quently turned. If the grain be in a doubtful 

 Slate, care is taken to make the stacks small. A 

 considerable pan of the crop is stacked on frames 

 supported by pillars with coping stones, and tho 

 whole ought to be preserved in this manner. 

 Vermin are thus excluded, and the air circulates 

 beneath the stack, and to any extent may be con- 

 ducted through it by vents. The mode of stack- 

 iuir peas, chiefly adopted, is to build them round a 

 high square of triangular ffame, to which the air 

 is freely admitted. 



The crop is thrashed by a mill driven with 

 great ease by three horses. In jreneral, as much 

 straw is thrashed each morning as serves the cat- 

 tle for the consumption of the day. No oats are 

 sold; they are converted into meal for the sake 

 of gelling the dust and shelling, which are Ibund 

 very useful in feeding the horses. 



TTie live stock and Us management. 



1. Horses. — Moderate sized, active horses are 

 used. An efibrt is made to Itjed them as long as 

 possible on green food, as the most economical, 

 and as most conducive to the increase of manure. 

 The means employed, are clover and rye grass as- 

 sisted by vetches. While on tliis food, and 'at or- 

 dinary farm work, the}^ get no oats. When the 

 green food fails, about the end of October, hay 

 is first substituted, and, as the days shorten, oat 

 or pea-struw. They now get each two feeds of 

 oats in the day, or one fifih of an imjierial bushel. 

 In cleaning the oats, the weaker are separated lor 

 the use of the horses. These are again put 

 through the fanners, or winnowing machine, and 

 the relijse is used in making boiled food lor them. 

 Before breakfast, a boiler is filled wiih oat or 

 wheat chaff, or cut hay, mixed with a little of the 

 refuse oats, or a little refuse wheat, or a few peas, 

 or a i'ew potatoes, certainly not equivalent in nu- 

 triment to half a feed of oats to each horse. At 

 dinner time the contents of the boiler are emptied 

 into a cooler, and mixed with some of the oat 

 dust mentioned above, and of this, each horse, 

 when his dav's work is over, gets about a pail 

 and a half They get a great deal mofe fodder 

 than is necessary, having always placed before 

 them as much as they can destroy. It is coneeiv- 



